1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data synchronization and, more particularly, synchronizing data with a mobile device based on a synchronization context.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly large part of business infrastructures. The flexibility provided by mobile devices allows employees to leave the shackles of a desk behind. Many of these mobile devices are as powerful as their desktop counterparts, capable of running a variety of enterprise software applications and contain an integrated storage space, such as flash memory or a hard drive that is synchronized with a centralized storage space. This allows the information entered by remote or roaming employees to be immediately integrated into corporate management information systems. The remotely located employees can also be immediately apprised of important information, which can be sent via a corporate information system and accessed in a relatively short time through their mobile device.
The synchronization of data on a mobile device with a centralized data store is not without inherent cost. For example, mobile device synchronization actions can be costly in terms of battery consumption and sometimes costly in terms of carrier charges. Some conventional solutions allow rudimentary synchronization control. For example, a user can be given an option not to synchronize a device when device battery levels fall below twenty five percent. A user can also be given an option to apply data filters when using an expensive connection. Current solutions lack an ability to control synchronization based upon a combination of criteria, such as a combination of battery level and connectivity conditions.
Further, conventional mobile devices lack of an overall mechanism that coordinates synchronization events of multiple applications running on the mobile device. Users are forced to establish synchronization rules for applications on a per-application basis. It would be preferable, if a user were permitted to create a set of rules that apply to all applications on the device, which is not possible with conventional technologies. Moreover, it would be useful if this desired capability could add synchronization control functionality for applications that do not have such functionality built into the application code itself. At present, user definable, synchronization control functionality is limited to some email applications and to some personal information management (PIM) applications.